[Movie] Grindhouse

Ok I’ll keep this short I saw this last Friday and it was a blast. I had a stressful week and setting down for three hours to high quality lowbrow entertainment was just what I needed. I loved plant terrors all out overblown, over the top, so bad it goodness. Death proff not as much it had a great climax but too much foreplay, and while Rodregiez seemed surrenders himself completely to making the best bad film ever. Quentin Tarantino was well Quentin Tarantino, Death Proof was defiantly a QT and not one of his best, this at times takes away from that seedy atmosphere the double feature is trying to create. Of course I can’t stop until I mention the “fake trailers” which all were excellent my favorite being machete followed closely by thanksgiving.
Although I must ask what idiot at marketing said "let put a big budget sex and violence 3 hour double feature on Easter weekend" now they are surprised it got beat by a bunch of family films.

Anyway how many other people saw this, and secondly which segment did you like best “Plant Terror” or “Death Proof” and why?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Celebrated the death of Christ watching Grindhouse with some buds and it was more than worth the price of admission. Nothing more needs be said about Planet Terror, so I'll leave it at that, but Tarantino should never write dialogue for women again. Holy fuck was Death Proof boring. Debates on tipping it wasn't. Thank God the climax had such a tremendous payoff.

I'm also hearing talk of the European release having the two movies split up, which would be a mistake since Death Proof can't survive without Terror Planet.

Even though Terror Planet was tremendous, I can't help but think that Kurt Russel and Zoe Bell stood out tremendously. For Bell though, a stuntdriver playing a stuntdriver is sort of like Courtney Love in The People vs. Larry Flynt.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I saw it on Friday night and when I arrived at the theater with my friends, I was drunk off my ass. By the end of the awesomeness that followed, I was completely sober. Oh yeah, as for the movie I absolutely loved it. It was everything I expected from a b-movie double-feature.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I loved every minute of it. Death Proof was a little slow, but the car chases in the end were fucking splendid. Also,

Spoiler:

seeing a crying, whining Kurt Russel get the shit kicked out of him for 2 minutes, followed by the girls cheering and THE END is quite possibly the single greatest ending I've ever seen.

The trailers were hilarious, most notably Machete and Thanksgiving, with Werewolf Women of the S.S. and Don't following very closely. Has anyone else heard the rumor of Machete being a feature-length film for the DVD release?

Loved all the little references throughout, like Kill Bill on the nurse's checklist, the cowboy cop and "Son #1" from Kill Bill, Machete running up on that car and throwing his knives through the moonroof like in Desperado, etc.

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Here's my review: Rodriguez is awesome, and Quentin Tarantino is a retard that has done more to ruin film for me than any other director. I strongly suggest leaving after Planet Terror, unless you want to go on a killing spree. Death Proof is great for that, because if you're anything like me, you'll hate not only QT at the end of it, but humanity in general.

As much as I enjoyed Planet Terror, I'm actually partly glad this movie is flopping. QT needs to start failing at the box office bigtime, so the world finally sees him for the hyperactive cock rodent he is. Besides, what if these movies became mainstream? I'm not sure I want to see Peter Jackson doing a 4-hour epic Grindhouse movie...

so much rage

I was speaking idiomatically.

Why so much hate for QT? I haven't seen Grindhouse yet, so I can't say yah or nay to QT's performance directing Death Proof, but his other movies have always kept me throughly entertained which is what a movies supposed to do.

Give some reasoning why you hate QT's style so much instead of whining like everyone else who doesn't like him. They never support their rage.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I saw a showing Friday night with a packed crowd and it was one of the best movie going experiences I've had to date.

Rodriguez's Planet Terror was better than I was expecting it to be. Cheap thrills, cheesy dialog and plenty of gore that ended up being fun as hell. Michael Behn is one of the standouts though and a film that rescues both him and the Lawnmower Man from obscurity is A+ in my book.

Death Proof was a different kind of beast though, I mean I enjoyed it but just not as much as Planet Terror. The film starts off well enough but when we get to the second act and having to watch a group of women talk on and on and on for what seems like forever almost killed the entire film for me as it sucked out just about all the momentum and pace of the thing, especially after Planet Terror and the faux trailer's batshit insanity they had bulit up but the finale and car chase actually made the pay off worth it.

However with both said and done it was Death Proof that had me thinking more about out of the two mainly because I was just trying to figure some of it out. Like, was it supposed to be out of chronological order? With the second group of girls being the beginning and then the first half the end? In some ways it'd explain the drastic character change with Stuntman Mike and some other details like why his car wasn't "Death Proof" during the chase. This will be why I'll be going back to see Grindhouse though at some point.

Originally Posted by Bradylama

I'm also hearing talk of the European release having the two movies split up, which would be a mistake since Death Proof can't survive without Terror Planet.

Yeah it's true and what's worse is that the Weinstein's are contemplating doing the same thing here by pulling the film and then re-releasing it as seperare films a few weeks later. Unfortunately whether they do or not the DVD release will have the films being seperate anyways but for anyone who wants to see Grindhouse as it was intended to be then now will be your last chance.

Originally Posted by WolfDemon

The trailers were hilarious, most notably Machete and Thanksgiving, with Werewolf Women of the S.S. and Don't following very closely. Has anyone else heard the rumor of Machete being a feature-length film for the DVD release?

Supposed to be. IIRC Rodriguez had mentioned he had already shot over 40 minutes of Machete which some of it made up the trailer. There's been some talk about the other trailers becoming features too be it direct-to-DVD or possibly on the big screen but with how Grindhouse is performing it's hard to say for sure.

FELIPE NO

As a huge Tarantino fan I was thoroughly disappointed by Death Proof. I like his dialogue and style, but it was completely out of place here. The dialogue was over-abundant and extremely self-indulgent. For what it's worth, I've been dwelling on the movie since I saw it last Thursday night, so, who knows... Either way I enjoyed it, but the bads outweighed the goods.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by *AkirA*

Why so much hate for QT? I haven't seen Grindhouse yet, so I can't say yah or nay to QT's performance directing Death Proof, but his other movies have always kept me throughly entertained which is what a movies supposed to do.

Give some reasoning why you hate QT's style so much instead of whining like everyone else who doesn't like him. They never support their rage.

My main complaint is with his writing, specifically his fluffy "soundbite" dialogue, which represents to me the worst in mainstream movie bullshit. All his movies feel like they're just self-indulgent fluff. It's like when he writes a script he's just like "okay so here are two guys walking down a street and oh fuck it would be funny if vampires came out! and shit I got another awesome idea, shotgun cross, let's put that in right now! Okay time for some cheesy one-liners, oh wait maybe I can put in some strippers too!"

Movies that would've been cheap B-movie fare at best if done by anybody else suddenly become "tributes to the entire genre" or some shit when he makes them. (I'm thinking specifically of Kill Bill here.)

I probably wouldn't mind his movies as much if he wasn't so incredibly overrated, and he really thinks he's awesome himself which is just insufferable. But that's the way it is and that stuff shines through in his material. His movies make me sick.

Also, he stole Reservoir Dogs (my favourite movie by him, and the main reason I saw most of the others he did) scene by scene from a shitty Hong Kong movie, and never admitted to it. This is probably more the media's fault than QT's for being inane and not reporting this ridiculous shit, but if he'd just come clean, it would've helped at least a little bit. Not only is he an overrated hack, he's also an insincere cockmongler.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

If he steals movie themes, that sucks. If he comes across as a prick, that sucks. If his movies entertain me, and they do justice to whatever genre he is making parody or borrowing from then that other shit doesn't matter.

He is overrated in the same sense that Nine Inch Nails is overrated. The fans are so annoying it makes you hate the artist. The media and fans give him too much credit, but that doesn't make him horrible, but it is annoying.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Quote:

However with both said and done it was Death Proof that had me thinking more about out of the two mainly because I was just trying to figure some of it out. Like, was it supposed to be out of chronological order? With the second group of girls being the beginning and then the first half the end? In some ways it'd explain the drastic character change with Stuntman Mike and some other details like why his car wasn't "Death Proof" during the chase. This will be why I'll be going back to see Grindhouse though at some point.

You're kidding.

Spoiler:

After "The End" comes up the scene shifts back to the girls, and one of them crushes stuntman Mike's face with her heel.

Quote:

If his movies entertain me... then that other shit doesn't matter.

Ah yes. The "Carlos Mencia" defense. I like Tarantino's movies with the exception of Kill Bill, but that doesn't mean he isn't an insufferable quack who should be stopped from putting anything else to film.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Yeah, basically having low standards doesn't help anyone, Akira.

Frankly I've always found Tarantino's stuff pretentious, so that I might like his style, but his substance is usually way off. The final confrontation between Bill and whatsherface was pretty slick, but expecting me to be seriously invested in the characters was kinda laughable at that point. Tarantino had thrown in his cards with the sensationalism department and never looked back.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I consider myself to have high standards when it comes to movies, but that doesn't mean I can't indulge myself every now and then.

You have to be in the right mindset to enjoy a Tarantino movie, and judging from your and Brady's posts it seems you enjoy the movies, but can't seem to get over the mental block that Tarantinos somehow tricking you into enjoying his movies.

Quote:

Ah yes. The "Carlos Mencia" defense.

You've had that line on the burner for awhile now haven't you?

Quote:

I like Tarantino's movies with the exception of Kill Bill, but that doesn't mean he isn't an insufferable quack who should be stopped from putting anything else to film.

What? Im sorry, but what?

I was speaking idiomatically.

I enjoyed certain scenes, which were choreographed or organized well, but asking me to take any of his stuff seriously is something else entirely.

It's an indulgence, like you said. Good occasionally, but then you don't eat chocolate cake for every meal.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Skexis

It's an indulgence, like you said. Good occasionally, but then you don't eat chocolate cake for every meal.

Point taken.

FELIPE NO

Quote:

You've had that line on the burner for awhile now haven't you?

I actually just came up with it.

There are also no "tricks" involved, beyond Tarantino knowing the right people to rip off.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I can't believe how hyped I was for this movie being a fan of horror and a fan of the directors/actors. That being said I loved it even MORE then I thought I would. Planet Terror was just old school Carpenter style with shit loads of action, explosions, and guns. It was nonstop entertainment, I loved all the characters especially El Ray. Deathproof while slower was also really good. There was a lot of talking and while people got annoyed I actually found a lot of the dialouge funny. That being said the first car crash in the movie is the BEST car crash ever filmed. Also the ending to DP was hillarious and better then the ending to PT. As for the trailers they were all funny as hell but my favorite was Thanksgiving with Machette right behind it. I saw this twice so far and would love to even see it again. By the way did anyone notice the music in PT sounded a lot like Carpenter's "Escape From New York"

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Bradylama

There are also no "tricks" involved, beyond Tarantino knowing the right people to rip off.

Originally Posted by Bradylama

I like Tarantino's movies

He's pretty crafty.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Freddy Krueger

By the way did anyone notice the music in PT sounded a lot like Carpenter's "Escape From New York"

Quote:

The music, by Rodriguez, was so fucking John Carpenter it's not even funny. If you would have told me it was Carpenter I wouldn't have doubted you.

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I'm pretty sure you're not the only one.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Planet Terror was amazing. I knew it would be camp but I didn't realize how fantastically campy it would be. Every beat hit. Every joke funny. This is a movie I will watch repeatedly.

Death Proof disappointed the LIVING HELL out of me. It is broken up into what feels like two completely different stories (almost a mocking of the duality of the entire "Grindhouse" movie itself). The first half has waaaaay too much completely irrelevant exposition going on. Then we find one of the most bad ass invincible serial killer monsters ever created. Far from a silent nobody like Jason or Michael and far from a loudmouthed lunatic like Freddy, Stuntman Mike is a calm, even fun-loving kind of monster. His charismatic wooing of the girl makes his turn to psychotic with Rose McGowan's character all that more chilling. He utters one of the most frightening bits of dialogue ever from a movie character. "Oh see, that's too bad. You had a good 50/50 shot. See, I'm going left. Which is where you're going. If you had just needed to left as well, you wouldn't have gotten scared until much further down the road. But you're going to have to start getting scared now." He then pulls off a quadruple kill that puts him on a pedestool of supernatural skill. Quentin gets us excited for a crazy run of Mike doing god knows what to god knows who.

Then Quentin takes that possibility, skullfucks it, breaks it over his knee, incinerates it, and pisses on its ashes. We switch to a group of women we know NOTHING about and CARE NOTHING about who prattle on incessantly about inane topics we care NOTHING about. They get their own little 30 minute story of traveling, eating, and test-driving an old car, something that could have been wrapped up in no more than 10 minutes tops. All the while we wonder, where is Mike? Assumedly he will show up out of nowhere, in the most shocking you-didn't-expect-THIS-shit moments of film ever--only to completely predictably pull up behind the girls as they are pulling some crazy stunt in their car.

Mike is then emasculated. That twinkling dream of one of the most intense, clever, creepy serial movie monsters ever is spat on in one of the most boring, overlong car chase sequences ever. Mike is no supernatural force. He is not, in fact, Death Proof. He's just a crazy guy who APPARENTLY got incredibly lucky when he perfectly murdered four women earlier in a car crash while escaping unscathed. And these four new women, who we had been dying to see die after all their drivel, get to take revenge on Mike, who is now a sniveling baby. Are we supposed to cheer the girls? They're not likable. We don't hardly know them and what we do know is irritating. Quentin forgot that in these types of movies, the audience begins the cheer the predator as he picks off annoying character after annoying character.

And finally we get the most anticlimactic ending ever. I might as well have had my dick sliced off right before orgasm.

I've loved all of Quentin's movies up til this one. But he can go eat a dick after this bullshit.

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Originally Posted by Twilight's Twin

Planet Terror was amazing. I knew it would be camp but I didn't realize how fantastically campy it would be. Every beat hit. Every joke funny. This is a movie I will watch repeatedly.

Death Proof disappointed the LIVING HELL out of me. It is broken up into what feels like two completely different stories (almost a mocking of the duality of the entire "Grindhouse" movie itself). The first half has waaaaay too much completely irrelevant exposition going on. Then we find one of the most bad ass invincible serial killer monsters ever created. Far from a silent nobody like Jason or Michael and far from a loudmouthed lunatic like Freddy, Stuntman Mike is a calm, even fun-loving kind of monster. His charismatic wooing of the girl makes his turn to psychotic with Rose McGowan's character all that more chilling. He utters one of the most frightening bits of dialogue ever from a movie character. "Oh see, that's too bad. You had a good 50/50 shot. See, I'm going left. Which is where you're going. If you had just needed to left as well, you wouldn't have gotten scared until much further down the road. But you're going to have to start getting scared now." He then pulls off a quadruple kill that puts him on a pedestool of supernatural skill. Quentin gets us excited for a crazy run of Mike doing god knows what to god knows who.

Then Quentin takes that possibility, skullfucks it, breaks it over his knee, incinerates it, and pisses on its ashes. We switch to a group of women we know NOTHING about and CARE NOTHING about who prattle on incessantly about inane topics we care NOTHING about. They get their own little 30 minute story of traveling, eating, and test-driving an old car, something that could have been wrapped up in no more than 10 minutes tops. All the while we wonder, where is Mike? Assumedly he will show up out of nowhere, in the most shocking you-didn't-expect-THIS-shit moments of film ever--only to completely predictably pull up behind the girls as they are pulling some crazy stunt in their car.

Mike is then emasculated. That twinkling dream of one of the most intense, clever, creepy serial movie monsters ever is spat on in one of the most boring, overlong car chase sequences ever. Mike is no supernatural force. He is not, in fact, Death Proof. He's just a crazy guy who APPARENTLY got incredibly lucky when he perfectly murdered four women earlier in a car crash while escaping unscathed. And these four new women, who we had been dying to see die after all their drivel, get to take revenge on Mike, who is now a sniveling baby. Are we supposed to cheer the girls? They're not likable. We don't hardly know them and what we do know is irritating. Quentin forgot that in these types of movies, the audience begins the cheer the predator as he picks off annoying character after annoying character.

And finally we get the most anticlimactic ending ever. I might as well have had my dick sliced off right before orgasm.

I've loved all of Quentin's movies up til this one. But he can go eat a dick after this bullshit.

If the movie went the way I expected it to go (Death Proof, I mean), then I would've been greatly disappointed.

Spoiler:

Having Stuntman Mike kill another set of girls with ease in a typical 'slasher' manner would've been retarded. We've already seen what he's capable of. We already know he's apeshit insane and willing to do whatever it takes to kill -- so long as he has the upper-hand.

Cutting his balls off (lol) with a gunshot to the arm from a woman who isn't afraid to fight back was awesome. The entire final chase had the audience in an uproar of laughter, and the ending was by far one of the most satisfying things I've seen in film in years.

I personally liked the second set of women in Death Proof. Their characters were fun and while the dialogue did seem to go on for a bit, it revealed character, details of the plot, and foreshadowed events. Tarantino might love his own work a little too much at times, but what he delivers is some real quality.

Out of the two movies I'd say that I found Death Proof's pay off worth the admission alone. Planet Terror was all kinds of awesome and it's difficult to say which one I liked more. I do hope Rod and Taran do another Grindhouse, because I've never had quite as much fun at the theater's as I did last night watching this.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I saw it opening day and like many here I enjoyed Planet Terror far more than Deathproof because Terror seemed to fit the style better. Deathproof should've been the predictable 'slasher' flick it was supposed to be because the films that the two are paying homage to are the same way.

I am personally looking forward to Machete becoming an actual movie. That is going to rock.

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I thought the entire experience was fantastic. I expected to be entertained by two amazing directors for 3+ hours, and that's exactly what I got! Planet Terror is perhaps one of the goriest flicks I've seen, and Death Proof was funny as hell and just as exciting. I don't think I went five minutes without laughing during the whole thing, and I didn't stop during the trailers. I've been a fan of mock trailers for a long time, so it was amazing to see them catch on. A well-done movie-going experience all around, and I'm definitely going again.

I can see why you might not like Grindhouse, but I think you might be missing the point a little. Grindhouse is an homage homage to an experience, and it delivers. If you were expecting something that would leave you pondering some of the finer points of existentialism, then you were sorely mistaken in your purchase of the ticket.

BTW, in case you've never heard of a Grindhouse, read this:

What is a "Grindhouse"?:

A "Grindhouse" was a type of inner city theatre that would play either all-day matinees or all-night marathons of low-budget exploitation films in the 60's, 70's and early 80's. Mostly comprised of formerly luxurious, old-time movie palaces, these 'down-'n'-dirty' theatres would often show offbeat, ultraviolent and sexually-charged films under the categories of Kung-Fu or "chop-socky" (Shaw Brothers films or martial arts actioners produced by outfits like The Cannon Group), Hixploitation (White Lightning, Gator Bait, Scum Of The Earth), Blaxploitation (Shaft, Coffy, Superfly, Dolemite, The Mack), Sexploitation (Supervixens, The Swinging Cheerleaders), Zombie and Cannibal films (Dawn of the Dead, Zombi 2, Cannibal Holocaust) Biker films (The Wild Angels, The Glory Stompers, The Savage Seven, The Losers) among hundreds of other subgenres.

Sometimes the films would combine all the sensational elements from different 'grindhouse' genres - inner city audiences flocked to such 'horror blaxplotation' classics like BLACULA, DR. BLACK AND MR. HYDE, or THE THING WITH TWO HEADS. 'Horror sexploitation' was combined in movies like THEY CAME FROM WITHIN and RABID, both early films by David Cronenberg. Crime/horror/sexploitation took things a step further with the infamous Sean Cunningham/Wes Craven co-production LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, and the sensational I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. Grindhouses and drive-in theaters were also like labs for filmmakers, as they mixed and matched different genres and story ideas to see what worked and what didn't, also exploiting the trends of the day as they incorporated them into these wildly plotted, cheaply made sagas.

In the suburbs during the 60's and 70's, Drive-ins were the equivalent to the inner city Grindhouses. You could see many of the same kinds of films from the convenience of your car. The title of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's first collaboration "From Dusk Til Dawn" (1996) was named after the catch phrase for the all night Drive-in movie marathons.

Both Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino grew up watching these kinds of films in Grindhouse theatres & drive-ins in the 70s-early 80s. When they became friends in the early 90's, they often held Exploitation film double-features in their own home theaters (and also at QT's Film Fests in Austin, Texas). Flash forward to 2006, when the two moviemaking pals decided to recreate these wild nights for movie audiences around the world, by making their own traditional Grindhouse-Drive-In double feature extravaganza complete with two raunchy horror films, fake Exploitation film trailers, ads and other cool treats.

FELIPE NO

I finally saw it last friday. Planet Terror was simply amazing. Everything I ever wanted from a zombie movie. Gore and babes without any filler. 2 best scenes were hands down

Spoiler:

The scene where the kid blows his face off in the car. I hate annoying kids in movies, and I actually made a joke about how he was gonna shoot himself, and not two seconds later you see a muzzle flash in the car window. It brought tears to my eyes

The other scene was when

Spoiler:

El Ray was running through the hospital with the butterfly knives. It reminded me of the Madness flash series put to film.

I did in fact like Death Proof although I agree it had alot of filler conversations in it. I didn't find myself bored though. I thought the ending with the girls was great. A serious spin to the average slasher guy who just won't die you see in all those other B horror movies. Watching the girls literally become the killers was a great change of pace. The crowd was cheering by the end of the movie.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Is there a lot of nudity in Grindhouse? Like a lot of sex?

Jam it back in, in the dark.